Palo Alto, CA – June 29, 2017– As further evidence of its position as the world’s leading platform for outsourced research and development (R&D), Science Exchange today announced it has raised $28 million in Series C funding. Founded in response to the global growth in outsourced R&D services, the company has raised more than $58 million since its inception in 2011. Norwest Venture Partners led the latest round with participation from existing investors Union Square Ventures, Maverick Capital, and Collaborative Fund.

“In the last decade, outsourcing of R&D has become a core strategy for improving efficiency and providing access to innovation for top companies globally. Forty percent of R&D spend is now outsourced and this trend continues to grow,” explained Science Exchange CEO Elizabeth Iorns, Ph.D., a research scientist who co-founded the company. “At the same time, businesses are challenged to manage their outsourced R&D. They need to track progress and provider performance across what could be hundreds of service provider relationships, impacting the cost, quality and timeliness of research projects. The Science Exchange platform solves this by removing barriers in the outsourcing process – providing companies with instant access to a network of pre-qualified service providers, as well as contracting, project management and reporting tools.”

As part of the Series C, Casper de Clercq, General Partner at Norwest and veteran of the life sciences industry with more than 20 years of commercialization and operating experience, will join the company’s board.

“Science Exchange has developed an outsourcing platform that is enjoying tremendous momentum as many of the world’s largest pharma and biotech companies have signed up,” said Casper de Clercq, General Partner at Norwest. “They are well-positioned as the leader in a large and expanding market. We are excited to help Science Exchange become the world’s largest platform for outsourced R&D.”

“We’re thrilled to be partnering with such prestigious investors to help us grow our business at such a critical time in the evolution of R&D outsourcing,” commented Iorns. “This investor confidence confirms our business strategy and potential for continued growth.”

Through the Science Exchange platform, researchers have easy and secure access to more than 2,500 of the world’s premier outsourced R&D service providers — qualified contract research organizations (CROs), contract manufacturers (CMOs), academic labs, and government facilities. Thousands of scientists have used the platform to support their pursuit of breakthrough scientific discoveries, including those from 10 of the top 20 biopharma companies. In fact, the company has grown its enterprise-wide strategic sourcing agreements with leading pharmaceutical companies by more than 2,000 percent since 2015.

Science Exchange plans to use the funding to continue its expansion beyond biopharma into other industries where scientists are faced with R&D outsourcing challenges – including agricultural science, cosmetics, aerospace and industrial chemicals. The company will strategically hire across product, engineering, sales, marketing, and customer success.

About Science Exchange
Science Exchange is the world’s leading platform for outsourced research, providing an efficient procure-to-pay platform for ordering services from a network of more than 2,500 qualified scientific service providers, all with pre-established contracts in place that protect client intellectual property and confidentiality. The platform increases scientists’ access to innovation and improves productivity, freeing them up from the administrative tasks and delays associated with sourcing, establishing and managing service provider contracts. Additionally, the Science Exchange enterprise program enables organizations to consolidate research R&D outsourcing spend into a single strategic relationship, driving efficiency and cost savings. Since being founded in 2011, Science Exchange has raised more than $58 million from Norwest Venture Partners, Maverick Capital Ventures, Union Square Ventures, Collaborative Fund, Index Ventures, OATV, the YC Continuity Fund, and others. For more information, visit https://blog.scienceexchange.com. Follow the company on Twitter @ScienceExchange.
About Norwest Venture PartnersNorwest Venture Partners is a leading Silicon-Valley based venture capital and growth equity investment firm managing more than $6 billion in capital. Since our inception, we have invested in more than 600 companies. The firm invests in early to late stage companies across a wide range of sectors with a focus on consumer, enterprise, and healthcare. We offer a deep network of connections, operating experience, and a wide range of impactful services to help CEOs and founders advance on their journey. Norwest has offices in Palo Alto and San Francisco, with subsidiaries in Mumbai and Bengaluru, India and Herzelia, Israel. For more information, please visit http://www.nvp.com. Follow Norwest on Twitter @NorwestVP.